AN: Once again thanks for the reviews, and the continued support, here is the next chapter.

Chapter 47: Their life-changing decision

A few days later, Sara was still feeling restless, so she told Grissom she needed to go out running, something else she picked back up doing after each pregnancy, especially the last one with the twins. Plus, while their oldest daughter is an academic genius, she actually did track throughout her high school education, and Sara helped her train for it while running with her when she could.

After Sara and Grissom kissed goodbye, she walked out of the front door with her running shoes so she could go to the closest park, and once that door shut, Grissom pulled out his phone, found the number he was looking for, did a small sigh while pressing the call button then waiting.

A moment later, he was talking to the other person. "Hey, it's Grissom...She needs someone talk to...She just went out running, but she'll probably stop at the bar for a drink before she gets home...yeah ok, thank you, I really appreciate it... bye." After they hung up, Grissom sighed again, hoping what he's thinking is happening was correct and not something else.

After Sara's 15-minute run, she did her normal stretching before getting in her vehicle and heading for a bar for a drink, and she had barely settled down on the bar stool at the end of the bar with a beer in front of her when she heard a familiar voice. "Fancy meeting you here."

Sara turned her head and smiled at him. "Sam, what are you doing here?"

He smirked after telling the bartender his usual drink while sitting down next to Sara. "Shouldn't I be asking you that question, you realize you're the one who's visiting LA."

As the beer was placed in front of Sam, Sara did a big sigh and turned her attention back to the drink in front of her. "Yeah, well I needed a break."

Sam took his first sip of beer before looking at her. "And I believe you need more than a break; I've been here less than five minutes, and I can already tell something is different about you."

She took another sip of her drink before setting it down as she spoke. "That's what happens when you kill someone."

Sam doesn't believe Sara would just kill someone, there had to be more to the story, so he commented. "But it wasn't just some one that you killed; it was a suspect."

Sara nodded. "Yes, I hesitated, he went after the gun, we fought for it then the next thing I know the gun went off."

"Ok, but how do you know you're the one that pulled the trigger? He obviously didn't want to get arrested so he did everything he could, including while in the struggle making your finger pull the trigger on him."

"But the point is it wouldn't have come down to that if I wouldn't have hesitated, I could have shot him in a spot that was non-lethal to stop him from coming after me, but I didn't."

"Do you know why you hesitated?"

Sara took another sip before replying after a sigh. "You can train for that type of situation all you want and feel like you would be ready for it when it comes, but when it finally gets to that moment there is a..."

Sam cuts her off. "Human element to it, no matter what he has done."

"Yeah, I know stupid, huh? He did a horrendous crime I shouldn't have had a problem pulling the trigger when I had a clean shot."

He shook his head with a small smile. "It's not stupid, you're a compassionate person, and that's one of the things I've always admired about you."

Sara shook her head and looked away. "Sam."

He smiled. "What? I can't say nice things about you? I'm always going to care about you, that hasn't changed." Sam then sighed before he continued. "And I have a feeling this is more than just the shooting that's wearing on you."

She turned to look at him and asked. "What do you mean?"

There was a slight pause before Sam continued. "When I first met you, you had this spark and eagerness to your eyes, like you were ready for whatever was out there, even though you knew it would be hard to see what was out there. I don't see that spark or eagerness in you anymore, it has definitely dimmed."

Sam was actually waiting for her to fight him on what he said, but when she didn't and sighed in a resigned kind of way, he knew that 'fight' was truly out of her.

"You're right, and I feel it had been getting dimmer since Nick's abduction, that changed me, changed all of us."

"I have no doubt."

Sara shook her head with a humorless chuckle. "I just can't believe my life as a CSI is ending like this, I know physically I could still do this job, but..."

She trailed off, not wanting to admit it, but Sam does it for her. "But mentally, you're done." Sara nodded as she wiped a tear from her eye, and Sam continued in a comforting tone. "You remember what you told Peter when he made this decision himself when he thought he would be a CSI longer?"

"We all have our limits and when you reach it you should call it."

"Exactly, and if you had truly reached yours, as hard as this decision is, you need to call it, especially if a bar is your stop everyday you leave the lab, that's a dangerous path to be going down when you have something great to lose."

She sniffled. "You know I'm still going to miss it."

"I know you are, and maybe you don't have to completely go away from it forever, just take a step back, enjoy time with your family. In fact, speaking of family, Belle just graduated, didn't she?"

Sara nodded with a pride smile on her face. "She did, got valedictorian, and a full academic scholarship to UCLA."

He chuckled. "Why am I not surprised. But I mean, she chose UCLA over Harvard and Berkeley?" When she looked at him in surprise that he would know that Sam chuckled again. "She's your daughter, had skipped a grade and got Valedictorian as a 15-year-old, so of course she was going to get offers from there too."

Sara nodded with a smile. "Well, not only is Belle academically gifted, but she also has a fondness for track, and she did so well during high school, UCLA offered her a sports scholarship as well, and even though she's not going there to be become a pro or anything, she wants that option to unwind when she needs it, which I totally don't blame her. Plus, she does have family here, so that's why it was an easy choice for her, even though she did say Harvard was a close second."

He nodded. "Very nice, you raised a wonderful woman."

"I can't take all the credit, I had a lot of help, especially in the beginning."

"Yeah, but you stayed true to what you wanted and showed her it's ok to fight for it."

She smirked, bragging a little. "I did do that, didn't I?"

Sam chuckled before taking his last drink, and after setting it down on the bar, he shook his head to the bartender, telling him he was done, then he stood up, took money out of his wallet and paid both of their tabs before he looked at Sara again. "Go home to your husband and talk to him, and I mean really talk to him. Figure out your next chapter in life is, or hell, just be a mother and wife for a bit. If anyone deserves that break, it's you."

Sara smiled at Sam. "Thank you, Sam."

He nodded then took a few steps towards the door before he stopped and turned around with a sigh. "I wish I can be that jerk guy that everyone thinks I am and take all the credit here."

Sara turned in her stool and asked with her eyebrow raised. "What do you mean?"

He smiled. "Let's just say you have a wonderful husband."

Now curious, she started to ask. "What's this got to do with my husband?"

"You think it was fate that we ended up in the same place today? I didn't even know you were in town."

After a moment, Sara's eyes get wide, figuring out. "Wait, he called you?"

Sam just responded. "Like I said, you have a wonderful husband."

Sara nodded with another smile while thinking about her husband. "I do." Sam gives her a head nod before turning and started walking away but stopped again when Sara spoke. "And Sam, that looks good on your finger, she's a very lucky woman." She pointed to his wedding band, causing him to smile with another nod before finally walking out of the bar.

Sara turned around in her stool, finished her last two sips before walking out, ready to talk to her husband.

Once she arrived home, she saw that the living room was empty, so she headed to the kitchen, where she saw her husband pouring some juice in the glasses that were in front of him, and she smirked as she walked further in the room. "I can't believe you called Sam."

He looked at his wife shyly. "Is that a 'good' can't believe or a…."

She cuts him off with a chuckle as she walked towards him. "I would say definitely a surprise, you of all people calling Sam."

He took a breath before cupping her cheek. "He knows you almost as well as I do as a CSI, and I felt that you needed someone to talk to who would understand that life. I love you Sara, and your well-being is what matters the most to me right now, so if it's not me you're talking too, then I'm glad it's him."

Sara cupped her husband's cheek with tears in her eyes. "I would have come to you, you know that, right?"

He ran his thumb up and down her cheek. "I know, in your own time." He then cleared his throat and spoke softly. "And I'll admit I was kind of hoping that what you are going through was work related and not us, not that I was ever hoping you were going through something, but..."

She cuts him off. "I get it, babe." Then she smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "And what I'm feeling has absolutely nothing to do with us, I couldn't be happier. But work, that's…." She stopped speaking for a moment while she heard the kids out on the deck, then she shook her head. "You know what, can we table this conversation for later? I promise we'll talk. But right now, I want to just be with the kids "

He nodded with a smile. "Ok."

They share a soft kiss before she whispered against his lips. "Thank you, and I love you too."

They share one more kiss before she pulls back from him, takes half of the glasses of juice that was on the counter before taking them outside for the kids while Grissom grabbed the other two.

Later that evening

The Grissom family hung out just the six of them for the rest of the afternoon, then when it got to the evening side of things, they headed for his mother's place for dinner, and while she was happy and excited to see them, she was slightly concerned they were here when she just saw them two weeks ago at Belle's graduation without a word of them coming to LA. But Grissom told her it was an impromptu decision to have a break from work and spend time as a family before Belle leaves for college, which technically wasn't a lie, it just wasn't the whole truth either, and they'll get to that when they figured out themselves on what's going on.

Now, while the kids were staying with their grandma that night, Sara and Grissom were sitting out on the back deck to their beach house, and she asked after taking a sip of her wine. "What did you tell mom? I could tell she was concerned we are here."

"I just told her that we needed a break from work and to spend time as a family before Belle leaves us for college."

She smiled. "So, the truth without the whole truth."

"Yeah, I figured she doesn't need to know there is more to it, until we figure out what's next for us."

Sara sighed and shook her head. "Don't you mean what's next for me?"

"No, because the truth is if you are doing what I think you're doing, I'm doing it too."

Sara gasped as she looked at her husband with wide eyes. "Griss, you can't be serious, you love..."

He cuts her off with a smile as he placed his hand on hers. "Honey, you can't be that surprised, me leaving CSI was only a matter of time, especially of late, and while I can still physically do the job, I don't want to do it without you. I can't walk into that lab day in and day out if you're not a part of it, it just won't be the same. We are a team, and if you go, I go." He took a breath before he slipped his fingers through hers and asked softly. "So, where are you at in all of this?"

She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "You know me better than anyone I've ever known, both personally and professionally, so in saying that, it shouldn't surprise you too much that professionally things haven't felt right to me in a long time."

He nodded as he leaned forward and cupped her cheek with his free hand. "Yeah, I just thought you might eventually kick it, but it has only..."

She cuts him off. "Gotten worse, and what happened a week ago, just made me hit my breaking point. Griss I..."

She trailed off and shook her head while he spoke in a reassuring/comforting tone. "Say it, honey. Say the words."

She sniffled before looking into her husband's carrying eyes, finally admitting it. "I'm done being a CSI, at least for now. Will I ever be one again? At this point, I don't know, but I do know I need to leave for right now."

He nodded as he moved her hand up to kiss her knuckles before replying. "Ok, if you're really sure, I'll support your decision."

Sara nodded with no hesitation. "I am."

"Alright, then so am I."

She asked softly. "And you're sure?"

"I am, like I said I don't want to do this without you."

After both of them truly felt this was their final decision, Sara took a breath and asked. "Ok, so now what?"

He cleared his throat before speaking again, already getting an idea. "That's actually up to you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know I had booked to do a seminar down in San Deigo towards the end of July." After she nodded, he continued with a smile. "But what you didn't know was that I got a call a few days ago about coming back here to do another seminar at UCLA, where there is a potential part time teaching job when classes start this fall."

Sara looked shocked. "Wait, did they actually say that to you?"

"No, but it was heavily implied that they were looking for part-time teachers at first to see how I am with actual students."

She shook her head with a chuckle. "It's almost too good to be true."

He nodded with a smile. "I know, right, especially when it just so happens our daughter will be here too."

She smirked. "Yeah, funny how that worked out as well."

Now he gets a little excited look on his face. "So, what you do think? You want to officially move here?"

She smiled for a minute or two while thinking this could be a dream scenario, considering their daughter would be here, then she lost it and asked. "Hold on, what about the house in San Francisco? That was our dream house."

"It was, and it has been for a lot of years, but honey dreams change and priorities shift." He then smirked. "But I mean if you want to keep the house and stay in San Francisco, I could always just commute back and..."

She cuts him off immediately. "Absolutely not! We've tried that once before, and while we would be closer this time around, we both agreed we would never do that again."

"And I truly don't want to go through that again either."

"But you really want this teaching job if it's offered to you?"

Grissom nodded, his excitement back in his eyes. "Yeah, I do. I'm ready Sara, I want to be a teacher now."

She cups his cheek and replied. "Then go be a teacher, here in LA, where we'll be close to your mom, our daughter and a lot of other people we care about."

"Now are you sure?"

"You made a career move for me ten years ago, so I want to do the same for you." She then smirked. "Although, I don't know exactly what my next career will be at the moment. But I am thinking about taking Sam's advice and just be a mom and wife for a little bit."

Grissom chuckled. "I bet you never thought you would say that, huh?"

She shook her head with a chuckle. "Nope, not in a million years." She then sighed in content. "But you know what, it feels right, right now."

"And if that's what you want to do, you deserve it."

"Sam also said that too."

There was a slight pause before Grissom asked. "Are we really doing this?"

Sara nodded with a smile. "We are, we will begin a new chapter in our lives in LA."

He smiled with his eyes sparkling. "I love you."

"And I love you."

They lean towards one another and kiss, both sad that one chapter of their lives were ending, but kind of excited where this upcoming chapter in their lives will lead them.

AN: Thanks for reading, please review. I hope you all had a wonderful/safe weekend. Just three more chapters to this long story, I hope you are all still enjoying it, until next time, always remember GSR4ever!